"I was excited to have photos of us that were separate from the wedding. Ryan might have been a bit skeptical about the need for an engagement session. One of the best pieces of advice I received in the planning process was not to forgo an engagement session to save money. People explained that the sessions are more about getting to know your photographer before the wedding so that you're comfortable with them on the big day.
Neither of us is particularly jazzed about posing for photos, so we aimed to keep the session simple and capture the two of us (and our dog Oscar) doing something we normally do— strolling around the West Village. We definitely each had a cocktail before the session but it didn't take long for us to feel at ease with Kate. We loved that she kept us talking the entire time to avoid feeling simply like photographer's subjects. And when we saw the final result we both immediately understood the value of the time we spent with Kate beyond the beautiful photos. She secured our trust to capture the most intimate, most photographed day of our lives." - from the couple
How he proposed: "Our engagement was a bit unorthodox, but perfectly us. Ryan knows that I like my expectations to be managed (I might be a bit impatient) so we started talking openly about the timing of our engagement, aiming for a Fall 2014 wedding. I had always known that planning a wedding in New York would be no small task, so we proactively visited Frankies Spuntino in October knowing that their Fall wedding schedule would be booking up quickly. We agreed to book the wedding venue without telling our friends and families. From there we quickly learned that we had to move forward with booking our photographer and florist if we wanted to secure our top picks. I had a dress by Thanksgiving and the wedding mostly planned before our actual engagement!
Why the wait? I had my heart set on an Old European diamond in an art deco setting and found a vintage ring that I wanted to have recreated. Ryan worked tirelessly starting in early December to select the diamond and work with the jeweler (Single Stone in Los Angeles via Greenwich Jewelers here in NYC) to make sure that it turned out perfectly. Single Stone handcrafts each of their rings (rather than casting) and the holidays were looming, thus the wait was much longer than we expected! Given my impatience and unwillingness to be surprised I demanded to know when it was expected to be complete. From there I assumed that Ryan would propose on the Friday of the week it was due to be finished— not until February 28!
On the morning of Thursday, February 27, I woke exhausted because Ryan had been tossing and turning all night. I should have known something was up! I trudged into work and after my first meeting of the day, Ryan instant messaged me, instructing me to leave work early, go get my nails done and meet him at home at 4:00. Of course I couldn't sit at work until 4:00 knowing what was about to happen so I wasted the afternoon away roaming around the neighborhood trembling with excitement. When I got home Ryan had champagne waiting and simply, perfectly, asked me to spend the rest of my life with him. After calls to our families we headed upstate to have an indulgent dinner at one of our favorite places—Blue Hill at Stone Barns. We conveniently had a birthday party for Ryan planned for that Saturday so we were able to celebrate with all of our friends...and surprise them with the details of our wedding planning we had been keeping a secret for so long.
In the end I have loved that planning our wedding has been a mutual decision from very early on in the process. Rather than having high expectations for a dramatic blog-worthy engagement story (that has become high pressure for men these days) we have felt like partners in every decision made along the way."
Photographer: Kate Ignatowski Photography
